Neuville to contest Ypres Rally with Hyundai

ByAutoSport

Updated 14/01/2017 at 14:57 GMT

Hyundai World Rally Championship driver Thierry Neuville will compete on the Ypres Rally in his native Belgium in 2017.

Thierry Neuville - Rallye d'Italie - 2016

Image credit: AFP

Neuville will compete in Hyundai's new R5-specification car on the event, which is a round of the British Rally Championship and Tour European Rally Series this year.

Ypres Rally Manager Alain Penasse, who is also Neuville's WRC team manager, says it's key for the event to boast the countries' leading WRC driver.

"This is final [Neuville entering the event]," he said.

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"Everyone in Belgium wants to see Thierry in action at Ypres. The R5 is a perfect product to do this. For us and to Ypres it's very important to have him there, he's the leading Belgian driver for the moment.

"It's also another opportunity to show what the new R5 is capable of."

The R5-specification Hyundai broke cover on Ypres last year as course car, driven by Kevin Abbring and Seb Marshall.

It appeared in competition in Corsica and Wales Rally GB in 2016.

Neuville last competed on the event in 2011 in a Peugeot 207 S2000 when broken suspension put him out of the event.

WRC